Carter's (CRI) Competitors

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) and Carter's (NYSE:CRI) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment and profitability.

Is COLM or CRI a better dividend stock?

Columbia Sportswear pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Carter's pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Columbia Sportswear pays out 30.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Carter's pays out 26.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Carter's is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts prefer COLM or CRI?

Columbia Sportswear currently has a consensus target price of $68.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.24%. Carter's has a consensus target price of $30.25, suggesting a potential upside of 19.33%. Given Carter's' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Carter's is more favorable than Columbia Sportswear.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Columbia Sportswear	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Carter's	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in COLM or CRI?

47.8% of Columbia Sportswear shares are owned by institutional investors. 48.3% of Columbia Sportswear shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Carter's shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, COLM or CRI?

Columbia Sportswear has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carter's has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer COLM or CRI?

In the previous week, Carter's had 25 more articles in the media than Columbia Sportswear. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for Carter's and 11 mentions for Columbia Sportswear. Columbia Sportswear's average media sentiment score of 1.01 beat Carter's' score of 0.19 indicating that Columbia Sportswear is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Columbia Sportswear	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Carter's	12 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	14 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is COLM or CRI more profitable?

Columbia Sportswear has a net margin of 6.61% compared to Carter's' net margin of 4.79%. Carter's' return on equity of 20.68% beat Columbia Sportswear's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbia Sportswear	6.61%	12.57%	7.97%
Carter's	4.79%	20.68%	7.29%

Which has better earnings and valuation, COLM or CRI?

Columbia Sportswear has higher revenue and earnings than Carter's. Carter's is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Columbia Sportswear, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Columbia Sportswear	$3.38B	0.96	$223.27M	$3.91	15.09
Carter's	$2.84B	0.32	$185.51M	$3.77	6.72

Summary

Columbia Sportswear beats Carter's on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.